The most commonly used ear canal hygiene method in use today is a cotton swab which in general works well to remove water and some particulates from the ear but is limited in its design at removing ear wax and excess ear debris. Ear wax and ear debris is actually smeared than removed and may even become more compacted making it more difficult to remove at a later time. The problem with cotton swabs in trying to remove ear wax is that it may actually push the wax deeper into the ear without removing the wax from the surface of the ear.
Various proposals for an ear cleaning device have been made but none of them appear to be commercially available to the consumer except for the one device that is non-disposable and sells for an expensive price, for example, about $5.00 and includes a depth stopper which limits the depth of insertion and has an outer loop or curette with sharp edges to scrape the wax from the ear. This stopper type of ear cleaning device having a curette is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,509,921; 5,888,199; 5,334,212; and 5,715,850. The problem with such a permanent, expensive ear cleaning device is that it needs to be cleaned and there is always a danger ineffective cleaning and subsequent cutting and a consequent infection. Additionally, the consumers are accustomed to having inexpensive, disposable instruments for which they pay a small price, rather than an expensive implement for cleaning their ears, which, in turn, has to be cleaned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,276 discloses the use of a cotton swab for cleaning the auditory canal and the cotton swab is removed and discarded from the ear cleaning device which is intended to be reused. The consumer is expected to wrap and secure a cotton swab around the spiral hatch pattern on the one end of the handle portion of the ear wax remover. An extraction head on this ear wax remover comprises three similarly shaped projections extending radially outward from a shank. Each projection has the shape of a frustum of a cone. That is, the extraction head comprises three frustum cone shapes portions on the tip of the device. Thus, the ear wax remover tool is to be used over and over again with subsequent swab attachments after each usage.
Thus there is a need for a new and improved ear wax cleaning device, which is small, light-weight, readily disposable and has a more effective ear wax cleaning head, which is not in the form of a curette, but which is made with smooth edges and has an effective ear wax and debris collecting portion.